The BJP on Wednesday fielded Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath as part of its campaign against the killing of saffron activists allegedly by the ruling CPI(M) in Kerala.

Mounting a blistering attack on the Left, the firebrand Hindutva leader accused the Left party of promoting “jihadi terrorism” and said it was its nature to “grab power at gunpoint”.

The Uttar Pradesh CM also raked up the contentious issue of ‘love jihad’, accusing the Kerala government of not taking steps to check the “dangerous trend”.

Leading the Jan Raksha Yatra a day after BJP president Amit Shah launched the party’s 15-day campaign for “people’s protection”, Adityanath said Kerala occupied an important place in the Sanatan Hindu tradition, and wondered how the “foreign ideology” of Communism entered the state. “The CPI(M) raises slogans about secularism but promotes jihadi terrorism. Kerala is a holy land where this is unacceptable. Here only the nationalist ideology should be promoted,” he said.

Adityanath claimed that God’s own country, as Kerala is often called, has been witnessing political violence sponsored by the ruling party. “It is in the nature of the Left party to grab power at gunpoint,” he said. “There is no scope for violence in democracy, but, unfortunately, Kerala has been witnessing politically- sponsored violence. With this ‘yatra’, we will make people aware of the CPI(M)’s misrule,” he said.

He said if the CPI(M) believes in democracy, it will have to answer questions about the political killings taking place in Kerala. Later, speaking to the media, he dwelt on ‘love jihad’, a term coined by the Hindu right to flag the issue of Hindu women marrying Muslim men, and called it a dangerous trend.

“Love jihad is a dangerous trend. The Kerala government has not taken effective steps to check it. The SC has already passed an order on it and NIA is investigating it,” he said. He was responding to a question about a case involving the marriage of a Muslim man with a Hindu woman who converted to Islam before tying the nuptial knot.